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Newly released documents show U.S. role in bloody Argentine coup

If you have never seen the 1985 Argentine film, La Historia Oficial, you have missed not only a very fine film, but a riveting, unforgettable performance by Norma Aleandro, winner of the 1985 Cannes Best Actress award. The Official Story is about a history teacher whose well-placed husband is able to negotiate their adoption of a beautiful little girl. It turns out that the girl is the kidnapped daughter of one of the many "disappeared," some of whom were pregnant women whose babies were given to the families of government officials. Aleandro's character's slow realization of what has been going on in her country--and right under her nose--is almost too painful to watch.

Between 1975 and 1978, at least 22,000 people were murdered or disappeared in Argentina when a military junta took over the country. Last Thursday, the day before the 30th anniversary of this, Argentina's bloodiest coup, the National Security Archive released a series of declassified U.S. documents, as well as secret documents from Southern Cone intelligence agencies, that reveal detailed evidence of the atrocities committed by the junta.

One of the documents is a transcript of a staff meeting of then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. In the transcript, then-Assistant Secretary for Latin America William Rogers advises Kissinger not to be in a rush to embrace the new regime in Argentina:

I think also we've got to expect a fair amount of repression, probably a good deal of blood, in Argentina before too long. I think they're going to have to come down very hard not only on the terrorists but on the dissidents of trade unions and their parties.

Kissinger's reply: "Whatever chance they have, they will need a little encouragement…because I do want to encourage them. I don't want to give the sense that they're harassed by the United States."

The Argentine military warned the U.S. Embassy that "some executions...would probably be necessary" and that they wanted to minimize any resulting problems with the United States. U.S. Ambassador to Argentina Robert Hill wrote that "it is encouraging to note that the Argentine military are aware of the problem and are already focusing on ways to avoid letting human rights issues become an irritant in US-Argentine relations."

Some estimates of the "disappeared" are as high as 30,000. Around 500 babies were taken from their parents and given to other families.

Posted by Diane E. Dees on 03/28/06 at 11:20 AM | E-mail | Print | Digg this | de.licio.us

Comments

The role of the US (specifically Kissinger and Nixon) in the thousands of tortures and executions in Argentina during the junta is one of the very worst chapters in this country's history. Sadly, anyone who studies US-Latin American relations since the 1950s will see that this was the norm and not the exception in terms of US support for brutally bloody regimes.

Posted by: Matan on 03/29/06 at 10:22 AM

Yada,Yada,Yada.

And what's going to be done about it?
NOTHING!!

Posted by: Uncle Dudley on 04/01/06 at 6:31 AM

Only in america would this stuff be news. The whole world knows all about usa activity in central and south america. Americans are the most bs'd people on earth. At least in the USSR people knew Pravda was a joke.

Posted by: garry walsh on 04/01/06 at 7:15 AM

That's right, nothing will be done, because basically the same bunch that was in power then is still in power & their bottom line is money & power. All the lofty talk of human rights & democracy is just a smoke screen to cover their real motivations. I still hold out hope that somehow all the good people in this country will be able to reform our government, and get it out of the hands of the white, male, multinational corporation & military-industrial complex power elite, but it's doubtful; at least without a massive public uprising here in the US. (and I don't see this happening, as too many "dumbed down" apathetic citizens contribute to the status quo rather than protesting & pressuring Congress for change).

Posted by: Eileen Davis on 04/01/06 at 7:19 AM

It is depressing stuff even though horribly familiar. Kissinger deserves to be tried for what he has done though his conviction would not be enough to overturn the systemic problem. We can't expect help from our politicians, they're too up to their necks in it by the time they win office that they're part of the problem. Our democracies suck, we have to find ways to make them real. Check out the Zapatistas, check out "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" by John Perkins, have another beer.

Posted by: Patrick Chalmers on 04/04/06 at 12:43 AM

What's really sad is that the people have forgeotten how to stand up to power .. this government is of the Powerful, the Corrupt, and the Corporations, not of the People anymore.

Posted by: RP on 04/05/06 at 6:42 AM